| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Telling a story in solos | |
| mstore -- 02/06/2005, 12:09:27 -- #11022 | |
| hello. I was on a masterclass with a guitar player. The lesseon was about telling a story while soloing. he refered to a repeating system for instance: "hello my name is martin, i drive a opel. Hello My name is martin and i drive an opel that is white. I like this car.... etc etc" We listened to coltrane using this system in his solos. Then we practised. I was amazed how cool and jazzy everyone in the class started sounding. Later I started to analyse my hammond organ records. Joey defrancesco. I couldn´t find any elements of this repeating system on any of his records. I suppose this system was something they used back in the old days. What system do artists today use to make their solos interesting? My teacher seems to use a system of creating nice sounding melodies and combining them with through composed material. In my opinion it sounds a bit dull. Anyone have any suggsestions and good examples of modern systems to build up solos. I´m tired of using the same licks all the time... martin | |
| signal11 -- 02/06/2005, 15:01:41 -- #11027 | |
| Well, I think there are a bunch of things you can do to make a solo more interesting. First, there's repetition. If you play something interesting, don't be afraid to hang with the idea for an "uncomfortably" long time. Add little variations here and there if you want, but sometimes playing the same thing over and over again will build up lots of tension the longer you play it. There's also "question-answer" techniques. For instance, a typical 12 bar blues solo might go like this: ask a question (4 bars), ask the same question (4 bars), give answer (4 bars). Listen to the head of just about any blues tune for an example (e.g., Birk's Works). Thinking about contrasts also works wonders. For instance, if you just went ripping through a bunch of 8th notes, maybe mix things up by playing some long tones. Same goes for dynamics. Or if you were playing up in the high register, go down and play some low notes for awhile. Last, but not least, there's space. As I've gained more experience, I often find that my solos become much more interesting if I just don't play so damn much. Play a cool lick. Sit back and chill for a measure or two---let the coolness of the lick settle in. Then follow it up with something. That almost always seems to work. -D | |
| Scot -- 02/06/2005, 17:12:01 -- #11029 | |
| Improvising is always about "saying something". To me it's about composition, imagery, groove, adventure, any of the above, or none of the above. Sometimes I'm inspired and things come out in my playing that I can't reproduce, things comes out that I have no idea where they came from. Other times I create my own inspiration by finding an idea I like, a few notes, and working with it like signal11 said above. I think the very most important thing for people to think about when improvising is the thing that a lot of people don't think of much at all, especially younger players or players with less experience. And that is the idea that every note you play should be deliberate. If you don't know why you are playing a note, don't play it. If it takes you five measure to figure out why you are playing a note, wait for five measures. Improv is not only about the notes you play, but more importantly, the notes you do not play, the spaces that define what you play as music. It's like tree skiing- don't look at the trees, look at all the empty space between the trees. Once a playing stops worrying about technique and what notes to play for certain chords (we ALL have to pay our dues by practicing and being able to play at a technically proficient level on the keybaord), then that player becomes more of an artist. What is a trait that all master artists share? Usually they have a concept before they even begin to work on a piece. Great pianists have a concept of what they are going to do during their solo or performance before they even start. Obviously surprises and pitfalls await the player, so flexibility is important as well. Improvisation- playing notes deliberately to get your message across while staying flexible enough to let the adventure of improvisation stray from the original plan to let the flashes of inspiration do their thing. Telling stories, walking a path, speaking through music, it's all the same thing. Have an idea of what you want to do but don't get so caught up in it so that you miss out on the great things inspiration will bring to it. | |
| Dr. Mike -- 02/06/2005, 18:23:17 -- #11030 | |
| Telling a story with an improvisation is not about saying words. That is a misconception and if you use that as the concept it will limit you tremendously. You need to learn to improvise a musical phrase, otherwise known as a "line". Learn to improvise short lines, long lines and to be able to mix up the two to create an interesting story. But a musical story... not a story that has anything to do with words. If I had to put words to my improvisations this 30 year jazz piano carreer would have ended 29 years ago. music is a different language and an entirely different intellect. You can be talking to someone who seems pretty dull, even dumb or retarded and all of a sudden when they play they are Einstein. Telling a story in improvisation means to connect your musical phrases in a flowing way to combine them in a smooth connected sensable way so that all together it is like a story has been told, indeed a musical story has been told. | |
| Billy -- 02/06/2005, 20:56:17 -- #11033 | |
| are we supposed to show emotion in our music? Personally, i dont think so. I leave the emotional stuff to the pop artists, and just chill while listening to jazzy stuff. | |
| 7 -- 02/06/2005, 21:34:24 -- #11034 | |
| Jazz = No Emotion? And all these years wasted emoting for nothing ... I suspected I'd been doing something wrong, and now you've made me see the light. Thanks Billy. I'll just listen to Band in a Box from now on! | |
| Billy -- 02/06/2005, 22:05:43 -- #11036 | |
| i dont understand. What emotion is showed in jazz music? I had always thought it to be about good groove, relaxation and just plain sounding cool. Pop music makes you feel a variety of emotions: sadness, triumph, happyness etc. Listening to jazz doesnt make me feel those emotions. When i listen to jazz i dont feel any emotion like that, its just a feeling of "holy crap, that was awesome!". Unless a good groove that makes you move your body counts as an emotion? | |
| pleonasmo -- 02/07/2005, 06:56:31 -- #11038 | |
| "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday always makes me want to cry. Same with "Summertime" in McCoy Tyner's album Jazz Roots. And I'm not even going to go into Charlie Parker or Bill Evans. On the other hand, Art Blakey always makes me feel happy. Must be a primordial drum thing. | |
| Dr. Whack -- 02/07/2005, 07:40:44 -- #11041 | |
| I would count "holy crap, that was awesome!" as an emotion:) - and if you listen to enough different types of jazz for a long period of time, I'm sure you'll discover more emotions | |
| Dr. Mike -- 02/07/2005, 09:11:50 -- #11046 | |
| ya thats right. thats why most hitmen listen to jazz it helps numb them out before their hits. | |
| Scot -- 02/09/2005, 12:55:45 -- #11087 | |
| I've never heard the term "no emotion" and "jazz" in the same sentence, unless I was describing some guy who just played terrible. Man, Billy, who have you been listening to? :) When I listen to Monty Alexander, there is FIRE in his playing, I get all worked up and want to play music. Pete Christlieb plays the tenor sax like there was no tomorrow and my blood races when I hear it. When I listen to Primal Scream that Maynard did back in the 80's, I'm like, "I must make music!" Emotion is the essense of communication! I don't care if it's words or music or paintings. Without emotion it's just shapes on a paper, sounds in the air. Emotion gives music, jazz especially, the edge that it needs to work people up, or bring them down, or make them crazy. Just look at any webcam of New Orleans this week and you tell me if the music is emotionless! | |
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